The final strut

Models present creations during the "Project Runway" Fall 2010 fashion show at New York Fashion Week, Feb. 12, 2010. Ten contestants of Lifetime's "Project Runway" showed collections anonymously at New York Fashion Week, part of the reality show's efforts to keep the three finalists secret until the television season ends.

SPOILER ALERT: The following images show fashions and designers who have advanced to the finale of "Project Runway," season seven.
(Brendan McDermid / Reuters)
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Designer Amy Sarabi walks the runway with one of her models. Her line featured pleats-and-prints separates, and although interesting, appeared to be the least wearable.
(Stephen Chernin / AP)
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Jesse LeNoir was one of the designers who said his line, which resembled costumey pinups reminiscent of World War II nurses, referenced the military uniform.
(Stephen Chernin / AP)
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Designer Jay Nicolas Sario was another "Runway" contestant who referenced the military uniform. Sario's vision was that of a futuristic urban warrior.
(Stephen Chernin / AP)
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NEW YORK — The Friday finale runway show of “Project Runway” had so many designers that even its surprise guest judge had trouble keeping track.

“I remember pieces,” country singer Faith Hill said after the show, admitting that she hadn’t yet learned the names of the contestants that she’ll be critiquing. “If I had my book in front of me, I would be able to remember. But I just remember the pieces so vividly.”

To prevent the audience from leaking the identities of the show’s final three contestants, “Runway’s” remaining 10 designers all offered collections, turning a normally refined runway into a whirlwind of faces, names and genres. Even with the larger number of lines, many themes repeated in the designers’ pieces: military, industrial colors, sportswear, the 1940s and conversely, back-to-the-future looks.

Other designers found inspiration in nature, including Jonathan Peters and Janeane Marie Ceccanti. Peter said his aviary theme was “an experiment in volume and a celebration of all things insect.” Ceccanti’s mantra was “things that aren’t alive but grow anyway, like crystals.”

By far the most interesting, though least wearable, were Amy Sarabi’s pleats-and-prints separates. A white pantsuit looked like it had various water stains that formed an ethereal pattern, while an off-white knit dressed exploded with pleats that draped the body haphazardly.

Though judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia both said before the finale that the latest season — the show’s seventh — its most directional in terms of the contestants’ styles, to show mentor Tim Gunn, there was only one designer who stood out. But he’s not naming any names.

“I’ve never seen a season of ‘Project Runway’ that has had such a distinctive point of view among a group of designers,” he said furtively after the presentation. “Any of the 10 could rise to the top, to be honest.”